As the world’s most popular music streaming app continues to surge, so too does the advertising potential.
More Options for Advertisers
After recently going public and a long drought that hadn’t seen any significant updates being made since 2014, Spotify has announced that big changes are coming to its freemium model. These efforts are being made in an attempt to convert more free users into paid subscribers, but advertisers shouldn’t be too worried.
In addition to adding more exploration and personalization features for listeners, advertisers are also receiving extra perks. There will now be more freedom to distribute engaging and relevant adverts by utilizing Spotify’s Streaming Intelligence dataset. This data serves to provide a deeper understanding of demographics, device IDs, moods, mindsets, tastes and behaviors.
“This Streaming Intelligence gives brands and marketers more chances to deliver relevant messaging in the right moment with our engaging ad experiences.”, the company said in a recent press release.
Advertising Options and Demographics
Advertisers can choose between targeting ads on desktop, mobile, or both. Demographics can be broken down by age, gender, location, activity, and taste in music styles. Campaigns can include either video, display or audio-format ads.
Spotify currently has roughly 90 million users signed up for the unpaid version, with the average user spending 2 hours a day streaming audio. The new freemium update will also see the inclusion of a Data Save feature which will reduce the amount of data listeners consume, likely leading to even more new signups and time spent within the program.
Getting Started with Spotify Ads
Marketers who are looking to start running campaigns on Spotify can begin by visiting the Spotify for Brands hub. Additionally, advertisers who want to create audio ads can use the Spotify Ad Studio to start building a campaign that follows Spotify’s specific guidelines and best practices.
As of right now, there is a waitlist for approved advertisers, and only those from the US, UK and Canada are permitted. While signup is free, a minimum budget of $250 is required to run a campaign and start driving traffic.
Taking Advantage of the Audio Surge
With Spotify’s total user base exceeding 159 million active global users, and growing competition from the likes of Pandora, Apple Music, Amazon and Google, it’s clear that the future of streaming audio is looking bright.
For advertisers who are looking to experiment on a new medium and target users based on their audio preferences, now is the time to get your name on the waitlist!